Maunick grew up on Mauritius Island, where, as a métis (mulatto), he experienced social discrimination from both blacks and whites. After working briefly as a librarian in Port-Louis, he settled in Paris in 1960, writing, lecturing, and directing for Coopération Radiophonique. He published frequently in Présence Africaine and other European journals.

In his first poetry collection, Les Oiseaux du sang (1954; “The Birds of Blood”), Maunick introduced a perspective that became characteristic of his later work; he rejected the sentimental search for roots to establish his individual identity. In Les Manèges de la mer (1964; “Taming the Sea”), he lamented his lonely exile and the persecution of his people. Mascaretou le livre de la mer et de la mort (1966; “Mascaret or The Book of the Sea and of Death”) reiterated his sense of isolation. Outraged by blacks killing blacks in Nigeria, Maunick published Fusillez-moi (1970; “Shoot Me”), a cry of anguish at the martyrdom of the Biafran Igbos.

Maunick’s later collections include Africaines du temps jadis (1976; “African Women of Times Gone By”) and En mémoire du mémorable suivi de Jusqu’en terre Yoruba (1979; “A Memory of the Memorable, Followed by As Far as the Land of the Yoruba”).